Unveiling a new Bourne Hill identity

This week we are celebrating our return to Bourne Hill.

It’s a satisfying moment, and one that’s possible only thanks to the hard work of a lot of people.

It’s also a good time to say thanks to everyone for all your patience over the last months.

We know it has at times been a trying and frustrating experience – but as you’ll appreciate, entirely necessary. We had to ensure the building was ready for our staff and the public. And we’ve done that.

We’re also sure that everyone working at or visiting the offices will enjoy the new surroundings.

The silver lining in this difficult episode is the fact that we have seized the chance to create a more attractive, more pleasant and brighter environment that reflects the hubs at Chippenham and County Hall. To name just a few of the improvements, you will see;

• a light and airy atrium, providing a welcoming and attractive entrance to the building
• better lighting, air-con and heating
• more space for break-out sessions
• smarter, more colourful décor – providing a more cheerful and agreeable working atmosphere

Teams had the opportunity to view the offices on Thursday and Friday and to have an update from Alistair on the work that’s taken place as well as ask any questions. The ways of working will be consistently applied over the three hubs including desk ratios, flexible working practices and break out areas for meetings.

This week the Families and Children’s Transformation programme board met. Along with our partners we discussed how we are progressing with projects to help us continue to improve the services we provide for children and young people. There is a new webpage for FACT where you can find out more detail. 

We are preparing for one last push in our canvass, as residents continue to return their household enquiry forms. It might seem at times like an unglamorous admin chore, but in reality it forms an important foundation of our democratic process. Free and fair elections depend on a reliable and accurate electoral roll. That’s why we take such pains to ensure that our voting list is up-to-date, and that everyone who has the right to cast a ballot gets the chance to do so.

This year we aimed to make the process even ever than before, by promoting online and text replies for the enquiry form. More than 159,000 forms of the forms sent out – 72% - have been completed, with 70,000 - 44% - of those returned digitally.

We’re delighted with that response because it means people are securing their right to vote, and because digital responses save money by cutting down postal costs and the time our staff spend on processing forms. It’s a great solution that works for everyone. The canvass ends on 5 November.

Our EmployAbility Fair returns to County Hall in a couple of weeks on 2 October. Teams are working hard to prepare for this event, which supports jobseekers with disabilities by putting them in touch with employers and support services. Around 30 organisations will attend including Wiltshire Police, Asda, BT Openreach and Longleat. Last year's event was well attended and enormously popular, and we’re looking forward to another success next month.

It is unjust and unacceptable that people with disabilities are denied good jobs. We’re so glad that some great organisations in our county, including ourselves, can see past disability and appreciate the value of a more inclusive workforce. There is so much untapped talent waiting to be discovered, so we hope this will provide a productive platform for people with disabilities to showcase themselves to high-profile recruiters.

This has been a week when all three of us have been out and about in the community, meeting staff and staying closely in touch with the way our services are received across the county.

As we already discussed, Alistair met staff at Bourne Hill and has attended a number of other meetings related to the ongoing recovery of Salisbury and Amesbury. 

Carlton has been visiting adult social care teams, and experiencing the important work our teams are doing in the field. He will be out meeting more teams in the coming months.

Terence is scheduled to meet fellow directors of children’s services across the south west today in Taunton to discuss common issues. 

Carlton and Terence also met around fifty new staff attending the induction session yesterday. A lively group who will undoubtedly be an asset to the teams they have joined.

We also met colleagues from Wiltshire Police for one of our regular face-to-face meetings, where we talked about how we work together, forthcoming projects and how we keep the people of the county safe. 

As you can see, it’s already a busy autumn for us and for everyone at the council – just like we promised in our last blog!

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence